Huge pro-regime rallies in Iran

An image grab from the Islamic Republic of Iran News Network (IRINN) state television channel on January 3, 2018 shows pro-government demonstrators in the southwestern Iranian city of Ahvaz. Photo: AFP

AFP, Tehran

Tens of thousands gathered across Iran Wednesday in a massive show of strength for the country's Islamic rulers after days of deadly unrest, with state television showing vast crowds marching through several cities.

Chants of "Leader, we are ready" were heard as images showed thousands rallying in the cities of Qom, Ahvaz, Kermanshah and elsewhere.

The demonstrators waved Iranian flags and pictures of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as well as placards saying "Death to seditionists".

"We offer the blood in our veins to our leader," was another popular chant.

There were few reports of anti-regime protests overnight, although it remained difficult to verify information from the provinces.

The political establishment has closed ranks against the unrest that has claimed 21 lives since it erupted last week.

They say the protests, which began over economic issues on December 28 but quickly turned more radical, were part of a foreign plot to destabilise the regime.

"The enemy is always looking for an opportunity and any crevice to infiltrate and strike the Iranian nation," Khamenei said.

Washington continued to exert pressure on the Islamic republic, with its UN ambassador Nikki Haley calling for emergency Security Council talks to discuss the situation.

"The people of Iran are crying out for freedom," she said at a news conference. "All freedom-loving people must stand with their cause."

Even reformists, who backed the last major protest movement against alleged election-rigging in 2009, condemned the violence and the support the demonstrations have received from the United States.

'The poor under pressure'

But they also urged the authorities to address economic grievances that have fuelled the protests.

"Officials must acknowledge the deplorable situation of the country as the first step to hearing the protesters," tweeted Mohammad Taghi Karroubi, whose father Mehdi Karroubi has been under house arrest for almost seven years for helping lead the 2009 demonstrations.

Many have been turned off by the violence, which has contrasted with the largely peaceful marches in 2009.

But on the streets of the capital, there is widespread sympathy with the economic grievances driving the unrest, particularly an unemployment rate as high as 40 percent for young people.

"The poorer section of society is really under pressure," Sakineh Eidi, a 37-year-old pharmacist in Tehran, told AFP. "But I don't think it will continue."

"Even those who maybe acted emotionally, vandalising things and setting fire to public property, know that the smoke will get into everyone's eyes and that insecurity in the country is not in anyone's interest."

Others rejected the official line that foreign powers were behind the unrest.

"I don't agree. People have reached a stage where they can no longer tolerate this pressure from the authorities," said Soraya Saadaat, a 54-year-old unemployed woman.

Mojtaba Mousavi, a Tehran-based political analyst, said Iranians do not generally support violence, no matter how unhappy they are with their government.

"There are certainly Iranians who aren't happy with certain policies, frustrated people who would like to protest against their economic situation, but history shows none of these people support violence and subversion," he said.

But "this week's protests turned into riots."

'No problem bigger than unemployment'

There were limited reports of violence on the night of Tuesday to Wednesday.

Two men fired on a bank and police post in the central province of Isfahan, without causing casualties, said state television.

"No information has been published on clashes or arrests in Tehran," said reformist news agency ILNA late Friday.

Police presence in the capital also appeared to have dwindled, official media and AFP journalists said.

That was in contrast with the previous two nights, when multiple deaths were reported across smaller towns, including six protesters killed during attacks on a police station in Isfahan province.

As violence grew, authorities stepped up arrests, with at least 450 people detained in Tehran between Saturday and Monday, and many more in outlying areas.

President Hassan Rouhani came to power in 2013 promising to mend the economy and ease social tensions, but high living costs and a 12 percent unemployment rate have left many feeling that progress is too slow.

Rural areas, hit by years of drought and under-investment, are particularly hard-hit.

Rouhani on Sunday acknowledged there was "no problem bigger than unemployment", and also promised a more balanced media and more transparency.

In 2009, authorities ruthlessly put down protests against the re-election of hardliner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. At least 36 people were killed, according to an official toll, while the opposition says 72 died.